1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of image processing, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for measuring color-texture distance between pixels in an image and a method and apparatus for sectioning an image into a plurality of regions using the measured color-texture distance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Important factors in forming an image of object(s) include color, illumination, shape, texture, positions of the objects, mutual geometry of the objects, and the position of the observer relative to an image forming apparatus. Image formation is affected by various devices and environmental conditions. Ideal image segmentation involves effectively distinguishing a meaningful object or a region of the same color from other objects or background in a form that humans can recognize, regardless of the above conditions for image formation. A number of conventional image segmentation techniques for accomplishing this have been suggested.
A representative image segmentation approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,751,450 entitled “Method and System for Measuring Color Difference”. The conventional image segmentation approach discussed therein includes calculating a color distance uniformly and sectioning an image into a plurality of regions using the calculated color distance. A major problem with this technique used to separate an object included in an image from background of the image is that if two pixels of the same hue in an area of an object have different brightness and saturation components, they are treated as different color image. The problem is basically caused by sectioning the image using the uniformly measured color distances. Thus, it is difficult to properly section an image using the conventional image segmentation technique because two pixels belonging to the same object are treated as belonging to different objects.
Another problem of the above conventional image segmentation technique is that if brightness or saturation is below a predetermined level, a background pixel and a pixel in a target object which have different hues are classified as the same color image. Thus, since pixels included in two separate regions are classified as belonging to the same region, it is not possible to precisely and accurately section the image into a plurality of regions.
Yet another shortcoming of conventional image segmentation is that precise image segmentation is not possible because the merging of two regions is determined without considering the sizes of the regions or the lengths of boundaries between the regions.